Psychosocial Well-being, Problematic Social Media Use, and Cyberbullying Involvement Among Mongolian Adolescents

Abstract

AbstractCyberbullying among adolescents has been increasingly studied throughout the world as it has become a significant public health concern. However, there is a dearth of research on cyberbullying in Mongolia. This study investigated cyber-perpetration and cyber-victimization experiences among Mongolian adolescents aged 14 to 18 (n = 676) and the relationship between psychosocial well-being, social media use, and cyber-perpetration and victimization. The data were analyzed with SPSS 25 (IBM Corp, 2017; Hayes, 2013). Results showed that 30.2% of participants experienced pure cyber-victimization, 19.0% experienced both perpetration and victimization, and 6.7% experienced pure cyber-perpetration often or occasionally in the past 12 months. Being male significantly predicted cyber-perpetration, and no such gender difference was observed for victimization. Age was not related to either cyber-perpetration or victimization. As hypothesized, the results showed that psychosocial well-being directly predicted cyber-perpetration and victimization and indirectly predicted them through problematic social media use (PSMU). The recommendations, implications, and limitations are discussed regarding these findings.